Earlier this year, the city of Lakeport decided to end its contract with Lake County Animal Care and Control in an effort to save money. The county was charging the city more than $71,000 a year for animal control services, up from about $53,000 in 2006, as Lake County News has reported.
In an attempt to save money City Manager Jerry Gillham suggested having Lakeport Police take over animal control duties.
With the turning of the fiscal year on July 1, Lakeport Police began providing animal control for city residents and, essentially, building its animal control services from scratch, a challenge on an already tight budget.
Police Chief Kevin Burke, who is doing double duty as interim city manager while Gillham serves with the Army National Guard in Iraq, said the volume of animal-related calls has varied on a daily and weekly basis.
A typical month might be 30 or more calls related to animals, Burke said. “We've been staying fairly busy with animal control calls.”
The department bought a used animal control truck from the county for $1,000, which will be used for transporting animals, he said.
Veteran animal rescuer Vicki Chamberlin also stepped up to assist the department with its new duties, said Burke.
“She has really helped us in an extraordinary way,” said Burke. “When she first sat down with me she wanted to be part of the solution.”
Chamberlin, who has nearly four decades of experience with domestic and native animal rescue, is Lakeport Police's volunteer animal control officer. Burke said her expertise and willingness to dedicate time to the city's animals have made her an invaluable resource to his department.
Since joining the effort in July, Chamberlin has worked on an on-call basis. When an officer picks up an animal Chamberlin said she will do the associated paperwork and then, if necessary, transport it to the county's animal shelter, where the city must pay a $90 shelter fee.
Chamberlin said the police budget has very little money for animal control duties, shelter or vet fees, or costs to print new animal-related forms. “It's not allowing us to do a full job by any means.”
As a result, she's working to promote a special fund for donations from the community and businesses.
Burke said the fund will be used to cover the necessary fees in cases where animals have to be taken to the shelter because they either can't be reunited with a family or have been surrendered by their owners. Chamberlin will be primarily responsible for spending the funds, he added.
The department is looking for other ways to support its new animal services. Because the city's license fees are very low, Chamberlin said the police department plans to go to the Lakeport City Council on Oct. 21 to ask for a fee hike.
The city also owes the county about $7,000 for animal control services, which Burke said he is working with the county to resolve.
Burke said he's had productive meetings with county Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox on getting the payments caught up. “The county is being very flexible about allowing us to pay any arrearages,” said Burke.
The $7,000 represents a two-year period during which the city inadvertently paid a lower amount than the county was charging, said Burke. While the city had agreed to the higher fees, its finance department wasn't notified and so the proper amounts weren't paid. Neither the city or county noticed until more recently.
In addition to her other duties, Chamberlin is creating a dog licensing database for the city, and plans to send out licensing notices to pet owners at the end of November.
Chamberlin said the county's Animal Care and Control has helped show her what paperwork needs to be done; Wasson Memorial Veterinary Clinic also assisted by donating a microchip scanner to Lakeport Police.
Burke said Chamberlin has been researching ways to keep the cat population under control, and is working with local veterinarians on possibly offering discounts to fix animals. “She's really been a problem solver for us.”
Overpopulation of both dogs and cats continues to be an issue in the city, said Chamberlin. With the good fall weather cats are continuing to produce litters at this time of year.
As part of the effort to control pet populations, Chamberlin said the police department eventually wants to be able to offer spay/neuter vouchers in order to encourage people to adhere to the city's spay/neuter ordinance.
In an effort to expand her own considerable knowledge, Chamberlin said she plans to attend training next April that will give her a state license for carrying out animal control duties.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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